The Transparency of Relief Organizations Responding to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Transcription

1 Report on The Transparency of Relief Organizations Responding to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake Citizen Oversight Requires Citizen Engagement 1

2 About Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization committed to: improving disaster management systems through policy research and advocacy; promoting transparency and engaging citizens to become more involved in preparedness and relief; and helping to ensure that people know what is happening on the ground during a disaster. What We Do Founded in 2007 in reaction to the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, DAP has demonstrated that dedicated and informed oversight can help ensure that government agencies and nonprofit organizations live up to their life-saving obligations before, during, and after crises. Our History Over the past few years, members of Congress, the news media, and emergency management practitioners have requested and utilized the research and real-time information collected by DAP. For a young organization, DAP has had an out-sized and far-reaching impact (as reported by ABC News, the Associated Press, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy, among others). Some of these accomplishments include: Investigating and authoring a report on how accessible and up-to-date the emergency plans in twenty-two hurricane-vulnerable Louisiana parishes were; this report prompted many parishes to update and improve the public accessibility of their plans. Conducting a successful campaign to compel FEMA to comply with federal law and elevate the position of FEMA Disability Coordinator, so that she has more authority and resources available to fulfill the position's mandate. Using the Disaster Accountability Hotline as a real-time listening device during Hurricane Ike and assisting numerous callers and countless others by directing details of gaps in critical services to responsible government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Launching ReliefOversight.org: a website designed to improve transparency in aid activities, to help ensure donations reach groups with the greatest capacity to deliver needed services and facilitate coordination between organizations on the ground. 2

3 Table of Contents ABOUT DISASTER ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT (DAP)... 2 WHAT WE DO... 2 OUR HISTORY... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 4 PURPOSE... 4 SCOPE... 4 PROCESS... 5 Survey Template... 7 CORRESPONDENCE LOG... 8 Correspondence s... 8 Correspondence Log... 9 HIGHLIGHTS Overall Observations Response Volume Compliance with Survey Questions Question Key Correspondence Analysis Transparency General Trends Observed NOTES, PROVISIONS, AND CORRECTIONS...25 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AGAPE FLIGHTS AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE AMERICAN REFUGEE COMMITTEE AMERICA S RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM APPROPRIATE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GROUP CATHOLIC MEDICAL MISSION BOARD CHILDREN S INTERNATIONAL LIFELINE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN DISASTER MINISTRIES COMPASSION AND MERCY ASSOCIATES (CAMA SERVICES) COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL EPISCOPAL RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT HELP THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL AID, INC INTERNATIONAL CRISIS AID LIFEWIND INTERNATIONAL (A.K.A. MEDICAL AMBASSADORS INTERNATIONAL) OXFAM AMERICA PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE PLANT WITH PURPOSE RELIEF INTERNATIONAL HAITI WORLD CARES CENTER INDEX CORRESPONDENCE American Red Cross Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group Mercy Corps MERCY CORPS 90-DAY FACT SHEET HEALING HANDS FOR HAITI INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION INC.*

4 Executive Summary Purpose This report seeks to: (1) determine whether 197 nonprofit organizations that solicited donations for Haiti disaster relief produced situation reports on their activities; and, if so (2) how comprehensive and publicly accessible such situation reports were. Through this report, DAP aims to promote accountability and transparency by 1) highlighting relief organizations that provide the public complete and detailed situation reports and 2) identifying those relief organizations that either do not release situation reports to the public or have published situation reports that include very few concrete facts. Scope The ReliefOversight team s scope narrowed as the production of this report progressed. After the high-magnitude earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, a team of researchers based primarily in the US compiled a list of nearly 200 organizations soliciting donations for Haiti relief. DAP conducted further research to find information on how groups operate in Haiti. The purpose of this research was to find and assess the availability and comprehensiveness of organizations regular situation reports, which ideally should contain detailed documentation of Haiti relief work. The ReliefOversight team logged and evaluated each situation report it found based upon its quality and availability. Quality assessments relate directly to the ultimate goal of bolstering standards of transparency. Availability of information, such as the policies and day-to-day activities of relief work, signifies the openness of relief organizations. Recognizing deficiencies in reporting, such as infrequent updating, limited information, or long gaps between entries, allows for the creation of corrective, binding policy recommendations that ensure that all relief groups increase transparency. As shown in the collected data, of the near 200 organizations identified as active in Haiti after the earthquake, only approximately ten percent responded to our survey, and of those, a number provided incomplete answers. However, descriptive and comparative observations concerning the behavior of these groups can be still be made by examining the information provided by the 21 aid groups that did respond to the survey. 4

5 The groups that were fully responsive were: 1. Oxfam; 2. International Aid, Inc.; 3. American Refugee Committee; 4. Catholic Medical Mission Board; 5. Relief International-Haiti; 6. America s Relief & Development Team; 7. Physicians for Peace; 9. Episcopal Relief & Development; 9. Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group; 10. Children s Lifeline; 11. Church of the Brethren Ministries; 12. LifeWind International; 13. Engineering Ministries International; 14. Plant with Purpose; 15. Compassion & Mercy Associates; 16. International Crisis Aid; 17. Help the Children; 18. Compassion International; 19. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; 20. World Cares Center; 21. Agape Flights Although the scope of this report is limited to those groups responding to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the need for increased transparency in other relief settings is clear. While the specific circumstances of each aid operation may vary, all relief organizations should be held accountable for not only the consequences of their actions, but also for maintaining a high level of transparency, and should therefore adopt policies that allow the international community to monitor their activities. While it may be argued that such public scrutiny could deter some organizations from responding as quickly to a disaster by limiting their flexibility, this is a false dilemma. The responses to this survey suggest that relief organizations with a genuine interest in promoting sustainable development and providing essential needs have nothing to fear from increased transparency. It is our hope that the methodology used to study relief groups in Haiti can be applied to aid work worldwide. The scope of such work is only limited by aid organizations themselves, insofar as they control the information relevant for transparency studies. We of course recognize and would exclude from such a study those settings where aid workers need to maintain anonymity and work in secret for fear of reprisals; such environments would be more suitably studied in a different fashion. Furthermore, aid organizations with very low budgets may not have the capacity to provide as frequent updates as organizations with annual budgets above one million dollars. Process The ReliefOversight team of Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a group dedicated to increasing transparency in the policies and practices of aid organizations. The team sought to obtain information from relief groups responding to the high-magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti on January 12, The first step was to reach out to these groups and attempt to establish communication concerning their relief practices. We then identified the relief group s coordinator or representative of affairs in Haiti, and sent that representative a standard survey. Correspondence with relief organizations occurred via , the templates for which can be found under Correspondence Log. Many organizations also posted contact information for particular coordinators and representatives on their websites under contact directories. Despite numerous efforts to contact some groups, a number remained unresponsive. 5

6 Another difficulty encountered in soliciting responses from relief groups was the way in which organizations limit initial contact. Many relief groups have an online form to complete with a pre-determined set of inquiry topics. Any additional information would have to be obtained by signing up for a newsletter or mailing list. While directly contacting an actual representative did not itself guarantee a response, contact via online inquiry forms further decreased the possibility of correspondence with an organization. Filling out these forms often triggered an automated response offering thanks for interest in the organization s work and vague promises that a representative would answer the inquiry soon. While some groups did actually follow through and provide a contact, submitting online request forms mostly failed to return the desired information. The second round of correspondence with organizations was limited primarily to those groups that provided contact information. This second round involved sending the actual survey, reproduced in this report, to relief organizations. ReliefOversight typically asked that the surveys be completed within a week of receipt. Analysis of these surveys allowed the ReliefOversight team to examine the extent to which relief organizations value transparency in their efforts in Haiti. The surveys also provided a picture of the scope of relief provided by each organization. Although organizations such as GuideStar and Charity Navigator offer much information regarding relief groups, making public details of the actual day-to-day activities of relief groups in Haiti is crucial to achieving greater transparency in aid. In addition to analyzing the information contained within the survey responses, the ReliefOversight team also created organization profiles on the ReliefOversight.org website to publicize much of the information contained in the surveys. This in turn enables the public to better understand the scope and purpose of a particular aid group s work and capacity to deliver aid. This information helps potential donors make more informed decisions regarding how best to direct resources to have the greatest impact. This information can also help improve coordination between groups delivering aid on the ground. These organization profiles can be found at 6

7 Survey Template Below is an example of the survey that the organizations were asked to fill out: Questions Y/N/ Comment 1. Background Information a) Organization name? b) Overall annual budget? c) Is your organization soliciting donations for Haiti relief? d.i.) Budget for Haiti relief effort? d.ii.) Raised? d.iii.) Distributed? e) Organization's Twitter handles? 2. Additional Questions a) Number of home staff b) Number of indigenous staff c) Number of staff at location d) Number of partner organizations e) Does your organization pass money to partner organizations? f) Does your organization allow donation earmarking? g) Does your organization allow transparent earmarking? 3. Online Accessibility/Comprehensiveness of Situation Reports a) Is your organization publishing publicly available situations reports detailing your specific activities on the ground? b) If A is yes, how frequent are the reports published? (daily, twice a week, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, not at all...) c) If A is yes, please provide a short description of the content of an average situation report (mostly factual, hard numbers, very/less detailed, many appeals for donations, appeals to emotion, many quotes, blog-like) d) If A is yes, please provide the location of your organization's publicly accessible online archive of situation reports (URL) e) How many of your organization's situation reports are available in an online, publicly accessible archive? 4. Sector(s) of services provided by your organization? (Please choose from the list and add any not listed.) (Food, Health, Housing, Long-Term Recovery, Mass Care, Shelter, Other: Please Specify) 5. Expected outcomes/goals for your organization's relief effort activities? 7

8 6. Please list any benchmarks for success in your organization's relief operations if any exist. 7. Please describe how your organization is achieving its benchmarks. 8. Please discuss any strengths/weaknesses. 9. Please discuss how your organization is collaborating with other organizations in this specific relief effort. Correspondence Log Correspondence s In corresponding with the relief organizations, several attempts were made to identify and contact the appropriate correspondent and/or someone working on the respective organization s Haiti team. First, an was sent asking for the contact information of such a correspondent, and then a survey request was sent to either the given contact or a generic address found on the organization s website (e.g. info@example.org). The templates of the s sent to the organizations can be seen below. Contact Information Template: Hello, My name is (Name), and I am working with ReliefOversight.org. Could you please provide me with the contact information for the representative of the Haiti crisis relief through your organization? If you could please send me their title, , phone number, or any other convenient way to reach them it would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, (Name) Intern, Disaster Accountability Project First Survey Template: Dear Mr. or Ms. ****, or Dear Haiti Relief Coordinator, I am working on a report for ReliefOversight.org, an initiative of the Disaster Accountability Project, about the transparency of disaster relief operations in Haiti. (**Name of Organization**) was selected to be included in the report and profiled on ReliefOversight.org. Please complete a short survey by (One week from send date) about your organization's activities in Haiti so we can include the most up-to-date information about your organization's activities on the ground. Survey URL: Survey Link We hope that ReliefOversight.org will provide your organization a unique opportunity to demonstrate its transparency and provide details about its activities on the ground. A key goal of ReliefOversight.org is to maintain an online clearinghouse of daily or very regular Situation Reports of all organizations soliciting donations for disaster relief efforts. Please view this as an opportunity to showcase factual details of your organization's day-to-day activities and impact on the ground. Please complete the following survey by (One week from send date): Survey Link We are happy to share the final draft of the report with your organization and look forward to your cooperation. Thank you, (Name) Intern, Disaster Accountability Project 8

9 Second Survey Template Draft: Dear Mr. or Ms. ****, or Dear Haiti Relief Coordinator, On (Date) a member of ReliefOversight.org attempted to contact (Organization Name) in regards to your participation in a survey we are conducting in furtherance of a report on the transparency of disaster relief operations in Haiti. We would still appreciate your response. Please complete a short survey by (One week from send date) about your organization's activities in Haiti so we can include the most up-to-date information about your organization's activities on the ground. Survey Link We hope that ReliefOversight.org will provide your organization a unique opportunity to demonstrate its transparency and provide details about its activities on the ground. A key goal of ReliefOversight.org is to maintain an online clearinghouse of daily or very regular Situation Reports of all organizations soliciting donations for disaster relief efforts. Please view this as an opportunity to showcase factual details of your organization's day-to-day activities and impact on the ground. Please complete the following survey by (One week from send date): Survey Link We are happy to share the final draft of the report with your organization and look forward to your cooperation. Thank you, (Name) Intern, Disaster Accountability Project Third Survey Template Draft: Dear Mr. or Ms. ****, or Haiti Relief Coordinator, On (Date) and a member of the ReliefOversight.org team attempted to contact (Organization Name) in regards to your participation in a survey we are conducting in furtherance of a report on the transparency of disaster relief operations in Haiti. We would still appreciate your response. Please complete a short survey by Friday, June 25 about your organization's activities in Haiti so we can include the most up-to-date information about your organization's activities on the ground. Survey Link We hope that ReliefOversight.org will provide your organization a unique opportunity to demonstrate its transparency and provide details about its activities on the ground. A key goal of ReliefOversight.org is to maintain an online clearinghouse of daily or very regular Situation Reports of all organizations soliciting donations for disaster relief efforts. Please view this as an opportunity to showcase factual details of your organization's day-to-day activities and impact on the ground. Please complete the following survey by Friday, June 25: Survey Link We are happy to share the final draft of the report with your organization and look forward to your cooperation. If you are not the correct contact for Haiti relief, it would be much appreciated if you could provide an appropriate contact . Thank you, (Name) Intern, Disaster Accountability Project Correspondence Log Organizations marked in bold and highlighted filled out a survey. Those without correspondence information listed were not contacted for various reasons, such as a lack of contact information, etc. Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Survey Response Received (Dates) ACDI/VOCA ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) Action Against Hunger - USA ActionAid International ActionAid USA 05/23/10 05/24/10 9

10 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Survey Response Received (Dates) ACTS World Relief 05/31/10 06/02/10 Adventist Community Services Adventist Development & Relief Agency African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency Agape Flights 05/30/10 Air Mobile Ministries Air Serv International America's Development Foundation American Baptist International Ministries American Friends Service Committee 06/22/10 American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 05/21/10 05/25/10 05/28/10 06/01/10 American Jewish World Service 06/18/10 06/18/10 06/19/10 06/22/10 American Red Cross 05/23/10 05/24/10; 05/26/10 06/16/10 06/16/10 American Refugee Committee 05/21/10; 06/18/10 05/24/10; 06/18/10 06/25/10 AmeriCares 06/22/10 06/22/10 Americas Relief Team 05/21/10 05/21/10 06/22/10 06/01/10 Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group Architecture for Humanity 05/23/10 05/27/10 Assemblies of God Relief 06/22/10 06/22/10 06/22/10; 06/23/10 Association of Baptists for World Evangelism 05/23/10 05/23/10 Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI) US B'nai B'rith Baptist Child and Family Services Baptist Mid-Missions 06/18/10 06/18/10 Beyond Borders Bright Hope International Brother's Brother Foundation CARE CARITAS Carma Foundation Catholic Medical Mission Board 06/22/10 06/19/10; 06/22/10 06/22/10 06/22/10 06/25/10 10

11 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Catholic Relief Services 05/21/10 05/24/10; 06/21/10 CBM-US 06/21/10 06/21/10 06/21/10 CDC Foundation CHF International 06/23/10 06/23/10 Child Family Health International 05/21/10 05/22/10 Childcare Worldwide Survey Response Received (Dates) 06/16/10 06/18/10 Children's Feeding Network 05/23/10 05/23/10 Children's Hunger Fund Children's International Lifeline 05/21/10 05/21/10 Christian Relief Fund Christian Veterinary Mission 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/22/10 06/22/10 06/22/10 06/22/10 Church of the Brethren 05/21/10 05/21/10 Church World Service 06/22/10 06/23/10 CitiHope International 05/21/10 05/24/10 06/22/10 06/23/10 CityTeam Ministries 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/22/10 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Compassion Alliance Compassion and Mercy Associates 05/21/10 05/24/10 05/28/10 06/04/10 Compassion International 05/21/10 05/21/10 05/28/10 06/01/10 Compassion Services International Concern Worldwide Converge Worldwide Convoy of Hope Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 05/21/10 05/22/10 06/22/10 Counterpart International Cross International Direct Relief International 06/19/10 06/24/10 06/25/10 Disciples of Christ 05/21/10 06/03/10 Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres Dwa Fanm 06/19/10 11

12 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Survey Response Received (Dates) Engineering Ministries International 06/07/10; 06/16/10 06/16/10 Episcopal Relief and Development 05/21/10 06/03/10 06/10/10; 06/23/10 06/24/10 Evangelical Covenant Church World Relief 06/19/10 06/23/10 Evangelical Free Church of America 06/19/10 Feed My Starving Children 06/19/10 06/24/10 Feed the Children 06/19/10 First Response Team of America Food for the Hungry Food for the Poor 06/24/10 Free Methodist Church 05/23/10; Freedom From Hunger 06/19/10 Friends of WFP 06/19/10 06/19/2010; 06/24/10 05/24/10; 06/18/10 06/24/10 General Association of Regular Baptist Churches International Ministries 06/19/10 06/23/10 Gifts in Kind 06/19/10 06/23/10 06/02/10; 06/11/10; 06/23/10 06/10/10 06/23/10; 06/24/10 06/24/10 Giving Children Hope Global Aid Network (Gain) 05/25/10 06/23/10 06/2/10; 06/07/10 06/02/10 Global Fund for Children 05/23/10 05/26/10 6/16/10; 06/23/10 Global Impact 06/19/10 Global Links 06/19/10 Global Samaritan Resources 06/19/10 06/23/10 06/24/10 GlobalGiving 05/23/10 05/25/10 06/17/10; 06/23/10 06/02/10 Globus Relief 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 06/16/10 Glow Ministries 06/19/10 GOAL 06/19/10 06/19/ /24/10 Grameen Foundation US Grassroots Int'l 06/19/10 06/24/10 Habitat for Humanity international 06/19/10 Haiti Children/ Mercy & Sharing 06/19/10 12

13 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Haiti Foundation Against Poverty 06/19/10 06/19/ /24/10 Haiti Marycare 06/19/10 05/22/10; 06/19/10 06/24/10 Haitian Health Foundation 06/19/10 Handicap International 06/19/10 06/19/ /24/10 Hands on Disaster Response 06/19/10 Healing Hands for Haiti 06/19/10 Info available on website 06/24/10 Info available Healing Hands International 06/19/10 on website 06/24/10 Heart to Heart International 06/19/10 06/18/10 Hearts With Hands 05/23/10 05/24/10 Heifer International 05/23/10 05/24/10; 05/25/10 06/23/10 06/23/10 Survey Response Received (Dates) Help the Children 05/25/10 05/26/10 06/01/10 HelpAge USA 06/19/10 Holt International Children's Services 06/19/10 Hope for Haiti 06/19/10 06/23/10 Hope Force International 05/23/10 05/25/10 06/23/10 HOPE Worldwide 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach Humanitarian International Services Group 06/19/10 IMA World Health 06/02/10 immap Independent Charities of America (aka Human Care Charities of America) 06/19/10 InterAction (The American Council for Voluntary International Action, Inc.) 06/19/10 International Aid 05/21/10 05/21/10; 06/18/10 05/21/10 05/21/10; 05/27/10 06/23/10 06/25/10 International Crisis Aid 05/23/10 05/24/10 05/28/10 06/04/10 International Disaster Emergency Service 06/19/10 International Medical Corps 06/19/10 International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention International Orthodox Christian Charities International Relief and Development (IRD) 06/19/10 06/23/10 13

14 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) International Relief Friendship Foundation 06/19/10 Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Info available on website 06/23/10 Survey Response Received (Dates) International Relief Teams 06/23/10 International Rescue Committee 06/19/10 Jesuit Refugee Service USA 05/21/10 05/27/10 05/28/10 06/04/10 Kids Alive International 06/19/10 05/21/10; Kiwanis International Foundation 05/23/10 Life For Relief and Development 06/19/10 05/23/10; 05/25/10 06/23/10 LifeWind International (Medical Ambassadors International) 05/23/10 05/24/10 Lions Clubs International 06/02/10; 06/09/10; 06/17/10; 06/23/10 05/30/10; 06/10/10; 06/18/10; 06/24/10 Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention 06/21/10 Lutheran World Relief 06/21/10 MADRE 06/21/10 Matthew 25: Ministries 06/21/10 Medical Teams International 06/21/10 MediSend International 05/23/10 05/23/10 06/23/10 Meds and Food for Kids 06/21/10 Mennonite Central Committee 06/23/10 Mercy Corps 05/21/10 05/24/10 05/28/10 Mercy Response (Vineyard USA) 06/23/10 Mercy-USA for Aid and Development 06/21/10 National Baptist Convention 06/21/10 Nazarene Compassionate Ministries 06/21/10 14

15 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) Survey Response Received (Dates) NYC Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City Operation Blessing International 06/21/10 Operation Compassion 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 Operation USA 06/21/10 Oxfam America 06/21/10 06/28/10 Partners in Health 06/21/10 Physicians for Peace 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 06/24/10 Plan International 06/21/10 Plan USA 06/21/10 Plant With Purpose 05/23/10 05/26/10 06/21/10 06/10/10 Presbyterian Disaster Assistance 06/21/10 Project C.U.R.E. 05/23/10 05/23/10 Project Concern International 06/23/10 Project Hope 06/21/10 Pure Water for the World 06/21/10 Quisqueya International Organization Freedom & Development 06/23/10 Rapha International 06/21/10 Relief International 06/23/10 06/24/10 Rescue Task Force 06/21/10 Rotary Foundation of Rotary International 06/21/10 Rural Haiti Project Salesian Missions 05/21/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 Samaritan's Purse 06/23/10 Save the Children 05/21/10 05/25/10 06/23/10 Seton Institute 06/23/10 Sewa International USA 06/23/10 Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA 05/21/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 Stop Hunger Now 06/23/10 The Resource Foundation 06/23/10 The Salvation Army 06/23/10 15

16 Organization Name Contact Sent (Dates) Contact Response Received (Dates) Survey Sent (Dates) U.S. Committee for the United Nations Population Fund 06/23/10 UJA - Federation of New York 06/23/10 UN Central Emergency Response Fund 06/23/10 UN World Food Programme 06/23/10 UNICEF UNICEF USA 06/23/10 Survey Response Received (Dates) Unitarian Universalist Service Committee 05/21/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 United Church of Christ 06/23/10 United Methodist Committee on Relief 06/23/10 United Sikhs 06/23/10 United Way Worldwide 06/23/10 06/10/10; USAID 06/23/10 WaterPartners International (Water.org) 06/23/10 World Cares Center 05/28/10 06/01/10 World Concern 06/23/10 World Emergency Relief World Help 05/23/10 05/24/10 06/23/10 World Hope International 06/23/10 World Neighbors World Relief 06/23/10 World Vision 06/23/10 Yele Haiti Highlights Overall Observations Response Volume The survey was sent out to 197 relief organizations working in Haiti. Of those organizations, 82 either gave contact information for a Haiti relief representative upon request, or displayed the information on the their websites. Of the groups for whom we were able to obtain contact information, 145 were sent surveys, and 21 organizations completed said survey. However, of the organizations that filled out the survey, some did not fill out a response for every question. 16

17 Compliance with Survey Questions The graph below displays the response count for each question asked in the survey. Question Key 1.a. Organization name? 1.b. Overall annual budget? 1.c. Is your organization soliciting donations for Haiti relief? 1.d.i. Budget for Haiti relief effort? 1.d.ii. Raised? 1.d.iii. Distributed? 1.e. Organization's Twitter handles? 2.a. Number of home staff 2.b. Number of indigenous staff 2.c. Number of staff at location 2.d. Number of partner organizations 2.e. Does your organization pass money to partner organizations? 2.f. Does your organization allow donation earmarking? 2.g. Does your organization allow transparent earmarking? 3.a. Is your organization publishing publicly available situations reports detailing your specific activities on the ground? 3.b. If A is yes, how frequent are the reports published? (daily, twice a week, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, not at all...) 3.c. If A is yes, please provide a short description of the content of an average situation report (mostly factual, hard numbers, very/less detailed, many appeals for donations, appeals to emotion, many quotes, blog-like) 3.d. If A is yes, please provide the location of your organization's publicly accessible online archive of situation reports (URL) 3.e. How many of your organization's situation reports are available in an online, publicly accessible archive? 4. Sector(s) of services provided by your organization? (Please choose from the list and add any not listed.) 5. Expected outcomes/goals for your organization's relief effort activities? 6. Please list any benchmarks for success in your organization's relief operations if any exist. 7. Please describe how your organization is achieving its benchmarks. 8. Please discuss any strengths/weaknesses. 9. Please discuss how your organization is collaborating with other organizations in this specific relief effort. 17

18 Correspondence Analysis During correspondence with representatives of the nonprofit organizations, the team received a range of responses to the s. 17 organizations responded to our inquiries without directly supplying the information that we requested. The responses fell into six main categories: 1. Requested more information about DAP/ReliefOversight or what the information gathered would be used for. 2. Stated that the organization was unfit to complete the survey. 3. Forward the correspondence to the appropriate representative. 4. Declined participation in survey due to already reporting to a different oversight organization. 5. Time concerns. 6. Questioned fees related to maintaining a profile on ReliefOversight.org 1. Requested More Information American Refugee Committee International; Architecture for Humanity; Baptist Mid-Missions 1 ; Global Aid Network; immap 2. Stated the Organization is Unfit For the Survey Child Family Health International 2 ; CitiHope International, Inc.; Global Fund for Children 3 ; Global Giving 4 3. FWD Correspondence to the Appropriate Representative American Red Cross 5 ; Catholic Relief Services; Globus Relief; LifeWind International 4. Declined Participation in Survey Jesuit Refugee Service USA 6 ; Mercy Corps 7 5. Time Concerns Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group 8 ; Plan International 9 ; Oxfam Questioned Fees ACTS World Relief 1 Baptist Mid-Missions inquired about ReliefOversight s post verification methods, spamming, and our parent organization, DAP. 2 Child Family Heath International indicated that they felt that the organization was unfit to complete the survey because the group does not conduct disaster relief operations in Haiti. 3 Global Fund For Children indicated that they felt that the organization was unfit to complete the survey because the group was not soliciting donations for disaster relief. 4 Global Giving indicated that they felt that the organization was unfit to complete the survey because the group worked with other organizations to fundraise for their efforts. 5 American Red Cross representative provided minimal transparency information throughout the correspondence. The correspondence between ReliefOversight and American Red Cross is displayed in the index. 6 Jesuit Refugee Service USA is currently reporting to InterAction. 7 Mercy Corps is currently reporting to InterAction and Transparency International, but did provide ReliefOversight with a 90-day fact sheet. The correspondence between ReliefOversight and Mercy Corps as well as the 90-day fact sheet submitted by Mercy Corps are displayed in the index. 8 AIDG submitted a survey after sending a correspondence indicating concerns about not having time to complete it. Also, in the correspondence the representative provided some information on what the group was currently working on by providing a newsletter indicating work concerning the disaster in Guatemala. They also included a brief run down of a financial and work related report. This correspondence is displayed in the index. 9 Plan International requested extra time to complete the survey, but did not submit a survey in the end. 10 Oxfam requested extra time to complete the survey and completed one a few days later, in time to be included in this report. 18

19 Transparency The Disaster Accountability Project s ReliefOversight.org aims to increase the transparency of relief organizations. In this study, the evaluation process initially focused on locating the website of each organization, and then searching those sites for updated situation reports. For this purpose, a situation report is defined as a document created and maintained by an organization that details its daily or weekly activities in the disaster zone. It includes specific and detailed information regarding the organization s sector of focus (e.g. health, shelter, food, etc.), active projects and the status thereof, the number of people served, in which specific locations and on which exact dates, as well as the status of fund dispersal. The aggregation of survey responses support the conclusion that that the majority of relief organizations lack transparency. As such, it is difficult to truly comprehend the scope and efficiency of relief efforts in Haiti. This raises serious concerns about efficiency and effectiveness given the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to relief organizations since the earthquake. Situation Report Availability Very few organizations offer detailed and easily accessible situation reports. While many organizations post newsletters or short updates on their websites, these are neither extensive nor telling of what has actually been accomplished. Blogs are also popular, and although some do contain useful details about activities, most are anecdotal or emotional appeals instead of factual descriptions. The information DAP compiled on situation report availability is presented below. Situation Report Key Red: indicates that the respective organization does not have a situation report available on its website, although other, non-factual updates may be available. Yellow: indicates that a partial situation report is available on the organization s website. Groups with regular, factual updates, or more extensive blogs containing facts, were also grouped in this category. Green: indicates that full situation reports are available. 19

20 ACDI/VOCA ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) Action Against Hunger - USA ActionAid International ActionAid USA ACTS World Relief Adventist Community Services Adventist Development & Relief Agency African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency Agape Flights Air Mobile Ministries Air Serv International America's Development Foundation American Baptist International Ministries American Friends Service Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish World Service American Red Cross American Refugee Committee AmeriCares Americas Relief Team Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group Architecture for Humanity Assemblies of God Relief Association of Baptists for World Evangelism Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI) US B'nai B'rith Baptist Child and Family Services Baptist Mid-Missions Beyond Borders Bright Hope International Brother's Brother Foundation CARE CARITAS Carma Foundation Catholic Medical Mission Board Catholic Relief Services CBM-US CDC Foundation CHF International Child Family Health International Childcare Worldwide Children's Feeding Network Children's Hunger Fund Children's International Lifeline Christian Relief Fund Christian Veterinary Mission Church of the Brethren Church World Service CitiHope International CityTeam Ministries Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Compassion Alliance Compassion and Mercy Associates Compassion International Compassion Services International Concern Worldwide Converge Worldwide Convoy of Hope 20

21 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Counterpart International Cross International Direct Relief International Disciples of Christ Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres Dwa Fanm Engineering Ministries International Episcopal Relief and Development Evangelical Covenant Church World Relief Evangelical Free Church of America Feed My Starving Children Feed the Children First Response Team of America Food for the Hungry Food for the Poor Free Methodist Church Freedom From Hunger Friends of WFP General Association of Regular Baptist Churches International Ministries Gifts in Kind Giving Children Hope Global Aid Network(Gain) Global Fund for Children Global Impact Global Links Global Samaritan Resources GlobalGiving Globus Relief Glow Ministries GOAL Grameen Foundation US Grassroots Int'l Habitat for Humanity international Haiti Children/ Mercy & Sharing Haiti Foundation Against Poverty Haiti Marycare Haitian Health Foundation Handicap International Hands on Disaster Response Healing Hands for Haiti Healing Hands International Heart to Heart International Hearts With Hands Heifer International Help the Children HelpAge USA Holt International Children's Services Hope for Haiti Hope Force International HOPE Worldwide Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach Humanitarian International Services Group IMA World Health immap Independent Charities of America (aka Human Care Charities of America) InterAction (The American Council for Voluntary International Action, Inc.) International Aid International Crisis Aid International Disaster Emergency Service 21

22 International Medical Corps International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention International Orthodox Christian Charities International Relief and Development (IRD) International Relief Friendship Foundation International Relief Teams International Rescue Committee Jesuit Refugee Service USA Kids Alive International Kiwanis International Foundation Life For Relief and Development LifeWind International Lions Clubs International Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention Lutheran World Relief MADRE Matthew 25: Ministries Medical Teams International MediSend International Meds and Food for Kids Mennonite Central Committee Mercy Corps Mercy Response (Vineyard USA) Mercy-USA for Aid and Development National Baptist Convention Nazarene Compassionate Ministries NYC Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City Operation Blessing International Operation Compassion Operation USA Oxfam America Partners in Health Physicians for Peace Plan International Plan USA Plant With Purpose Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Project C.U.R.E. Project Concern International Project Hope Pure Water for the World Quisqueya International Organization Freedom & Development Rapha International Relief International Rescue Task Force Rotary Foundation of Rotary International Rural Haiti Project Salesian Missions Samaritan's Purse Save the Children Seton Institute Sewa International USA Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA Stop Hunger Now The Resource Foundation The Salvation Army U.S. Committee for the United Nations Population Fund (Americans for UNFPA) UJA - Federation of New York UN Central Emergency Response Fund 22

23 UN World Food Programme UNICEF UNICEF USA Unitarian Universalist Service Committee United Church of Christ United Methodist Committee on Relief United Sikhs United Way Worldwide USAID WaterPartners International (Water.org) World Cares Center World Concern World Emergency Relief World Help World Hope International World Neighbors World Relief World Vision Yele Haiti General Trends Observed The survey responses reveal that some smaller organizations demonstrate great diligence in reporting and greater transparency than their larger, more established counterparts. Very few groups provided extensive information regarding the long-term goals of their relief services. For example, many aid groups providing housing in Haiti fail to address how long they intend to accommodate people left without homes. Likewise, many fail to discuss their ability to sustainably deliver essential needs to the children, women, and men currently residing in aid groups homes or camps. The lack of documentation about relief housing does not necessarily imply derisory conditions, but it does invoke concerns regarding the environment in which earthquake victims currently live and their future housing options. Ultimately, examining the survey responses offered by the twenty-one aid groups reveals that very few organizations are willing to divulge much more than their general aid practices and financial information. This reinforces the notion that greater transparency is necessary in the current structure of disaster relief and aid work. Too many groups soliciting funds fail to provide full reports on how they utilize time and resources to achieve the stated goals of their organization. Considering these likenesses and contrasts between aid groups reporting practices, organizations should take significant steps towards greater openness and access to information. Such transparency can bolster trust and connections between aid groups and the public, thereby increasing both public willingness to contribute and the efficiency of delivering aid to those in need. 23

24 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) In response to correspondence with relief organizations as well as the surveys received, the following list of FAQs was compiled: Q) What does ReliefOversight do? A) ReliefOversight.org is a publicly generated, data-driven initiative of the Disaster Accountability Project to improve transparency in disaster relief operations. The website serves as clearinghouse of fact-based situation and activity reports to document the day-to-day on-the-ground activities of relief and aid organizations soliciting donations from the public. It is critical that the public has access to the most objective and reliable information on the capacity, activities, goals, difficulties, background, size, partnerships with other relief groups, status/presence on the ground, budget size, and prior experience. Q) What does the Disaster Accountability Project do? A) The Disaster Accountability Project focuses on improving disaster management systems through public accountability and transparency, citizen oversight and engagement, and policy research and advocacy. Q) I received a survey from ReliefOversight.org but it s past the due date, should I still fill out the survey? A), we would still appreciate your responses. Q) What is transparent earmarking? A) A transparent earmarked finance is one in which the funds are visibly held for a specific purpose. Q) What does home staff and indigenous staff mean on the survey? A) Home staff defines staff members who work in an organization s central or main headquarters. Indigenous staff defines staff members of the organization who come from the country or area in which the disaster occurred. Q) What does partner organization mean on the survey? A) A partner organization consists of any group giving funds to or receiving funds from your organization, or any group with which your organization works in collaboration in order to provide disaster relief, response, recovery or other aid services. Q) Do you think other questions should be added to this list? A) We welcome suggestions; us at: reliefoversight@disasteraccountability.org 24

25 Notes, Provisions, and Corrections On July 5 th, 2010, Healing Hands for Haiti International Foundation Inc. submitted a survey to ReliefOversight. Unfortunately, the survey was submitted ten days past the deadline June 25 th and so it could not be included in the analysis of relief work provided in this report. Although ReliefOversight did allow organizations to submit surveys past the deadline, this survey was received after all analysis had been completed. In order to facilitate public access to all information gathered by ReliefOversight, however, the survey will be displayed in the Index. On July 6 th, 2010, Food for the Hungry submitted contact information to ReliefOversight. Unfortunately, the contact information was submitted eleven days past the deadline and could thus not be included in the analysis of relief work provided in this report. Acknowledgements Thank you to the teams of hard working Disaster Accountability Project volunteers and interns and Crisis Camp volunteers that conducted research, collected information, and contributed pro-bono website design and development for this report and/or the ReliefOversight.org initiative. Special thanks to Jocelyn Rosnick, Alok Bhatt, and Pia Engel, our Summer 2010 interns working on ReliefOversight.org Haiti for conducting research, managing correspondences, and compiling this report. Additional thanks to Disaster Accountability Project s Director of Programs, Peter Hanink, for his careful editing and long-time support. 25

26 Individual Survey Responses Agape Flights Contact Information Dick Armstrong Interim Executive Director Tel.: Additional Comments Our focus is limited to our membership. Survey: Questions Y/N/ Comment 1. Background Information a) Organization name? Agape Flights b) Overall annual budget? $1.6 billion c) Is your organization soliciting donations for Haiti relief? d.i.) Budget for Haiti relief effort? $ 90,000 d.ii.) Raised? $660,000 d.iii.) Distributed? $300,000 e) Organization's Twitter 2. Additional Questions a) Number of home staff 12 b) Number of indigenous staff 2 c) Number of staff at location 130 Missionaries d) Number of partner organizations 200+ christian Organizations e) Does your organization pass money to partner organizations? Generally no f) Does your organization allow donation earmarking? after review g) Does your organization allow transparent earmarking? 3. Online Accessibility/Comprehensiveness of Situation Reports a) Is your organization publishing publicly available situations reports detailing your specific activities on the On web site, twitter, facebook. 26

27 ground? b) If A is yes, how frequent are the reports published? (daily, twice a week, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, not at all...) Weekly c) If A is yes, please provide a short description of the content of an average situation report (mostly factual, hard numbers, very/less detailed, many appeals for donations, appeals to emotion, many quotes, bloglike) Mainly anecdotal d) If A is yes, please provide the location of your organization's publicly accessible online archive of situation reports (URL) On web site, twitter, facebook. e) How many of your organization's situation reports are available in an online, publicly accessible archive? 30% 4. Sector(s) of services provided by your organization? (Please choose from the list and add any not listed.) Health, shelter, food, and long-term recovery. 5. Expected outcomes/goals for your organization's relief effort activities? 6. Please list any benchmarks for success in your organization's relief operations if any exist. 7. Please describe how your organization is achieving its benchmarks. 8. Please discuss any strengths/weaknesses. Have been in Haiti 30 years. Our supplies go directly into the hands of Christian Missionaries. We are sending to them the supplies they request, which means that little is wasted and all supplies are focused on an immediate need. 9. Please discuss how your organization is collaborating with other organizations in this specific relief effort. We are shipping in supplies for orphanages, schools, food programs, churches, dental, medical, and others who are part of our membership, about

28 American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Contact Information William Recant Assistant Executive Vice President Tel.: Survey: Questions Y/N/ Comment 1. Background Information a) Organization name? American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee b) Overall annual budget? $ 300 million c) Is your organization soliciting donations for Haiti relief? d.i.) Budget for Haiti relief effort? $ 7 million d.ii.) Raised? d.iii.) Distributed? e) Organization's Twitter handles? $ 7 million $3.7 million 2. Additional Questions a) Number of home staff 4 b) Number of indigenous staff 0 c) Number of staff at location 1 d) Number of partner organizations 6 e) Does your organization pass money to partner organizations? f) Does your organization allow donation earmarking? 28